HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY 


BULKS  FOB 

ACCENTING  AND  PRONOUNCING  ENGLISH  5 

WITH  INSTRUCTIONS 

HOW  TO  PRONOUNCE 

FRENCH,  ITALIAN,  GERMAN,  DANISH,  DUTCH, 
SWEDISH,  NORWEGIAN, 

AND  OTHER  FOREIGN  NAMES. 


NEW  lTORK  : 

DICK  & FITZGERALD,  PUBLISHERS 
NO.  IS  ANN  STREET. 


■VM  & 


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P 


H&t 

HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


COMMON  ERRORS  IN  THE  USE  OF  VOWELS. 

\Ve  shall  presume  that  the  reader  knows  the  uses  of  vowels  suf- 
ficiently to  require  no  list  of  vowel  sounds.  Some  common  errors, 
however,  prevail,  even  among  persons  of  tolerable  education,  as  to 
the  uses  of  vowels,  and  especially  of  vowel  combinations.  Broad 
sounds  of  vowels  should  be  avoided  as  vulgar,  and  contracted  sounds 
as  affected.  For  instance,  it  is  common  to  hear  such  words  as  cof- 
fee, coffer,  and  God,  pronounced  as  though  they  were  written  corfee, 
corfer,  Gord,  &c. ; a little  attention  to  the  distinction  between  the* 
long,  broad  sound  of  corf,  and  the  short  one  of  cof,  would  remedy 
such  decided  vulgarisms.  Again;  grass,  glass,  pass,  distaff,  and 
many  other  words  having  a in  the  same  sound  as  in  man,  accept, 
chapman,  &.c.,  get  pronounced  as  if  they  were  spelt  grahss,  glahss, 
pahss,  and  so  on ; the  a having  too  broad  a sound,  and  hence  a vul- 
gar effect  There  is  no  necessity  to  refine  till  the  opposite  extreme 
is  reached,  and  say  grayse,  glayse,  and  payse,  but  the  medium  be- 
tween  a and  ah  is  easily  attainable. 

Londoners  have  the.  best  possible  opportunity  for  acquiring  a cor 
rectness  of  pronunciation,  having  constantly  before  them  the  models 
of  modern,  elegant  English ; yet  they  have  peculiarities  quite  as  in- 
correct as  any  provincialism.  The  letter  a at  the  end  of  a word  is 
constantly  perverted  into  er ; as  Marier  for  Maria ; ideer  for  idea.  Wo 
hear  also  such  sounds  as  woold,  coold,  and  shoold,  instead  of  would, 
could,  and  should,  in  each  of  which  we  lose  the  l , but  do  not  gain 

[3] 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


in  return  an  excessive  prolongation  of  the  ou  as  oo  in  good  society. 
The  compound  oi  is  terribly  handled  by  many  who  really  know  bet- 
ter. We  hear  that  the  kettle  is  blling,  or  that  Mr.  So-and-so  has 
died  ofplson.  Such  a disfigurement  of  our  mother  tongue  may  do 
with  the  comic  gentleman  who  sings  “ Villikins  and  his  Dinah, ” but 
•is  a,  common  and  lamentable  vulgarism.  Again : we  hear  a person 
complain  of  the  headache,  which  he  says  is  owing  to  the  boil ; an- 
other complains  by  bewailing  the  grievance  of  a bile  on  his  gums. 
Both  these  parties  are  wrong ; and  as  the  error  is  very  common,  we 
give  here  the  several  words  and  their  meanings  from  “ Walker.” 
Bile , a bitter  liquor,  separated  in  the  liver,  and  collected  in  the  gall 
bladder.  Boil,  a sore  angry  tumor,  terminating  in  a pustule.  The 
word  bile,  as  the  equivalent  of  boil,  a pustule,  has  been  used,  but  is 
now  obsolete.  Oi,  except  as  a diagraph,  in  English  has  only  one 
sound,  which  is  the  same  as  oy  in  boy.  Spoil  and  soil  are  words  sub- 
ject to  a similar  distortion  into  spile  and  site,  pronunciations  which 
bespeak  vulgarity.  The  compounds  eu  and  ew,  are  frequently  con- 
verted into  oo,  and  we  hear  of  Toosday,  dooty,  J00,  brooing,  &c. ; 
while  the  simple  u,  when  combined  with  consonants,  suffers  all  man- 
ners of  vocal  transformations.  Thus  we  hear  the  word  impure  pro- 
nounced as  if  it  were  spelt  impjjor,  censure  becomes  ccnsyor,  and 
jointure,  juncture,  and  other  similar  words  suffer  the  same  indignity. 
Yet  the  sound  impure  cannot  be  difficult  to  any  one ; nor  indeed  are 
there  many  of  those  who  murder  our  mother  tongue  in  this  wray  but 
know7  better  while  they  do  it.  Ow  is  sometimes  abused,  mid.  fellow 
becomes  feller ; pillow,  pillar,  fyc. 

ERRORS  IN  THE  USE  OF  CONSONANTS. 

The  abuse  of  consonants  is  quite  as  great.  Syllables  wThich  ter- 
minate words  are  frequently  converted  into  brief  nasal  sounds,  as  if 
the  person  speaking  had  a cold,  and  could  not  articulate  l,  n,  or  ng , 
upon  any  account.  The  guttural  sound  of  r gets  annihilated  in 
board,  form,  cord,  ford,  &c.,  so  that  wre  hear  instead,  baud,  fawm, 
caud;  Ac. ; while  law,  saw,  paw,  and  claw  get  converted  into  lor, 
eor,  por,  and  clor.  % 


PRINCIPLES  OF  PRONUNCIATION. 


On  the  other  hand,  a pedantic  affectation  is  equally  annoying,  and 
certainly  more  reprehensible.  Vulgarisms  may  arise  from  igno- 
rance, but  those  who  indulge  in  that  excess  of  refinement  which 
leads  them  to  say  quality  instead  of  quality , and  many  other  of  the 
like  eccentricities,  deserve  the  severest  censure,  because  usually 
they  know  better.  Some  of  our  public  speakers,  who  push  accura- 
cy of  utterance  beyond  a wholesome  limit,  get  the  habit  of  trilling 
the  r so  much  that  one  would  think  that  they  washed  to  be  thought 
unlettered  Irish  peasants.  A slight  trill  of  the  r,  wdiere  it  is  not 
mute,  is  both  necessary  and  pleasing,  but  to  say  star-r-rs,  kindr-r- 
red,  afah-r-r,  in  place  of  star,  kindred,  and  afar,  is  almost  as  bad  as 
that  custom  of  minor  theatricals,  who  think  the  acme  of  elocution 
to  consist  in  the  practice  of  introducing  y or  u between  certain  syl- 
lables, so  as  to  render  kind,  kyind ; card,  kyard ; girl,  gyurl ; com- 
pensate, kyompensate,  and  so  on.  But  affectation,  though  more 
blameable  than  vulgarity,  because  more  capable  of  absolute  correct- 
ness, is  yet  the  less  obnoxious  of  the  two.  We  would  rather  hear 
the  excesses  of  refined  pronunciation,  than  the  vulgarisms  that  too 
frequently  assail  us ; though  a medium  accuracy  is  that  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  man  of  equal  good  sense  and  culture,  regardful  of  the 
rights  of  letters  and  syllables,  yet  avoiding  that  elaboration  which 
gives  the  stamp  of  pettiness  to  pedantry. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  PRONUNCIATION. 

The  Aspirate. — The  aspirate  is  never  heard  in  English  except  at 
the  beginning  of  syllables ; where  it  occurs  neglect  of  it  marks  the 
speaker  as  unfit  for  good  society.  In  the  following  words  it  is 
mute ; and  when  the  indefinite  article  precedes  the  noun,  it  should, 
for  each  of  the  following  words,  be  an— humble,  honest,  heir,  honor, 
hostler,  humor,  and  hour.  The  aspirate  usually  begins  a word  ; but 
wlien  preceded  by  a w , it  is  a common  English  error  to  drop  the  h. 
Thus  wheat  is  pronounced  weat ; whig , wig.  In  these,  and  all  sim- 
ilar words,  the  h should  be  clearly  aspirated.  Where  h begins  a 
syllable  not  at  the  commencement  of  a word,  it  must  nevertheless 


6 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


be  sounded,  but  when  it  does  not  begin  a syllable  it  is  always  mute, 
as  in  Brahma,  Dahlia,  and  others  of  a similar  character.  With  re- 
gard to  the  last  word,  it  may  be  useful  here  to  note  that  it  is 
pronounced  daylia,  not  darlia,  but  the  ah  in  Brahma,  have  the  same 
sound  as  in  the  interjection  ah ! 

In  regard  to  the  placing  of  the  article  an  before  words  which 
commence  with  vowels,  Mr.  Smart*  insists  on  its  disuse  before  words 
which  begin  with  u ; and  for  this  reason,  that  the  true  sound  of  the 
vowel  u,  ue,  or  ui,  is  the  same  as  the  syllable  yoo,  and  w'e  might  as 
well  say,  “ an  youthful  face/'  as  say,  “an  useful  book.”  Many 
modern  writers,  however,  keep  to  the  letter  of  the  law ; and,  inas- 
much as  u is  certainly  a vowel,  continue  to  write  “ an  universal 
law” — “an  Utopian  scheme” — “an  ubiquitous  man,”  &c.,  «fcc. 
But  before  all  words  commencing  with  h not  aspirated,  an  must  be 
used  as  the  indefinite  article,  as,  an  honest  man — an  hour  after,  &c. 
Before  words  commencing  with  h aspirated,  the  article  a,  as,  a hope, 
a hunter,  &c.  The  article  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  the  form  only 
being  changed  to  accommodate  the  h that  follows. 

Sh. — When  the  sound  sh  occurs  before  the  sound  of  y in  such 
words  as  sure , shyure,  it  is  usual,  in  polite  society,  to  say  shoor, 
because  of  the  difficulty  we  experience  in  giving  the  consonant  y 
its  vowel  sound  after  sh.  Hence,  in  the  termination  tion , it  is  absurd 
to  attempt  to  preserve  the  full  y sound,  and  make  shyon  of  it ; we 
must  suffer  the  y to  be  absorbed,  though  a very  slight  tone  of  the  y 
should  be  preserved  in  such  words  as  social.  Where  the  absorp- 
tion of  y is  not  insisted  on  in  Dictionaries,  it  adds  a grace  and  polish 
to  the  tongue  to  suffer  t to  slide  in.  Zh  never  commences  a word 
in  English,  but  its  sound  is  met  -with  in  French  in  those  words 
which  commence  with  the  consonant  j,  as  je,  jambe,  &c. 

Use  of  Consonant  g. — This  is  one  of  the  difficulties  of  conversa- 
tion and  reading  with  those  whose  education  has  been  somewdiat 
scanty.  It  is  usually  soft  before  e or  i,  but  hard  before  a , o , m,  or  a 
consonant.  For  instance,  ge  and  gi , soft  like  j — genus,  gerand,  gen- 
erous, gentian,  gentleman,  geography,  &c. — gilliflower,  gin,  gingle, 


* Smart’s  English  Plition  of  Walker. 


PI  INCIPLES  OF  PRONUNCIATION. 


7 


&c. — ga,  go,  and  gu  hard,  like  g in  gammon,  gabardine,  gabion, 
gallinaceous,  gomphosis,  gordian,  guillotine,  grunsel,  guttural,  &c. 
The  sound  of  g is  irregular  in  such  words  as  judgment,  abridgment, 
&c.,  but  when  these  words  are  spelt  correctly,  the  e,  following  the 
g,  gives  the  necessary  hint  for  sounding  the  g softly.  It  is  an  inno- 
vation very  injurious  to  write  these  words  without  the  e in  the  mid- 
dle; as  judgement  and  abridgement — it  is  incorrect  and  prejudicial 
to  pronunciation.  Mr.  Smart  says,  “ In  the  parent  language  of 
modern  English,  g seems  to  have  been  regularly  hard  before  e,  i, 
and  y,  and,  it  is  still  so  in  geek,  geese,  geld,  and  its  relations  ; get, 
as  a verb,  and  its  compounds  and  relations  ; and  also  as  a common 
termination,  as  in  drugget , if  not  preceded  by  d ; in  gewgaic,  finger, 
monger , and  generally  in  the  termination  ger  in  old  Saxon  words 
and  others  not  related  to  words  in  which  g is  soft,  or  in  which  the 
g is  not  preceded  by  d,  in  gib , gibout , gibber,  gibberish , gibbous , 
giddy , gig , giggle,  giglot,  gild,  gill,  gimblct,  gimmal,  gird , and  its 
relations.  Generally  it  is  a rule  that  g is  hard  in  any  common  ter- 
mination affixed  to  a word  in  which  it  was  previously  hard,  as  in 
ragged,  dragger,  drugger,  dagger,  craggy,  &c.  On  the  same  prin- 
ciple the  g may  be  hard  in  laryngeal  or  laryngean,  from  their  rela- 
tionship to  larynx  (lar-ingks).  G is  hard  in  gingham  and  gingly- 
moid,  but  soft  in  gymnasium,  gymnosophist,  gypsum,  gypsey,  gyve, 
and  gyre.  Before  n,  g usually  becomes  mute,  as  gnome  (nome), 
gnomiometricai  (the  measurement  of  angles  in  crystals)  pronounced 
no’-meo-met-re-kl.  In  gnostic  the  g is  also  mute,  and  we  say 
nos?-tic.  The  sound  of  ng  requires  delicate  management.  In 
Lancashire  they  add  another  g to  w7ords  ending  ng,  and  instead  of 
saying  king,  they  say  king-g.  Yet  where  ng  finishes  a syllable  not 
at  the  end  of  a word,  it  is  necessary  to  discriminate  where  to  break 
the  wrord  asunder  in  uttering  it,  and  whether  to  add  another  g.  In 
pronouncing  singer,  for  instance,  it  is  correct  to  say  sing  er , but 
finger  must  be  pronounced  finger. 

Ch , sch,  h,  ek. — The  first  sound  of  eh  is  soft,  as  in  church,  and  is 
really  a compound  of  tch . With  this  form  there  is  no  difficulty. 
The  second  form,  sch,  is  somewhat  more  puzzling.  In  schism  the 
s gives  its  own  sound  to  the  word  sizm,  but  in  scheme  and  its  rela- 


d 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


tions  we  have  the  sound  of  sk,  as  we  have  also  in  sceptic,  which  is 
correctly  pronounced  skeptic,  though  all  other  English  words  com- 
mencing see  have  the  soft  sound  of  scene.  All  English  words  com- 
mencing sea  have  the  harsher  sound  approaching  to  sk,  as  in 
scavenger. 

It  is  an  important  point  i i words  commencing  with  ch  soft  to 
note  whether  we  are  to  use  the  sound  of  tch  or  sh.  As  no  definite 
rule  can  be  given,  we  here  present  the  reader  with  a list  of  all 
words  commencing  with  ch  which  take  the  sound  of  sh. 

SH. 

Chabasito — shab’-a-cite — a variety  of  zeolite. 

Chad — shad — a fish. 

Chagreen— sha-green’ — rough-grained  leather. 

Chagrin — sha-grin’  — ill-temper,  vexation. 

Chaise — shaiz — a light  carriage. 

Chamade — sha-mahd’ — the  beat  of  a drum  denoting  a surrender. 

Chamois — sham’- wall— a species  of  goat. 

Champagne — sham-pane’— a wine  produced  at  Champagne  in 
France. 

Champaign — sham-pane’—  an  open  country. 

%*  This  word  often  occasious  a difficulty.  It  is  sometimes,  and 
indeed  more  commonly,  spelt  campaign  — an  open  country,  a plain 
— and  then  must  be  pronounced  kam-pane,  but  when  spelled  with 
ch  pronounced  sham-pane,  as  described.  Some  persons  read  cham- 
paign kam-pane,  which  is  incorrect. 

Champerty— sham-per’-ty — a division  of  land. 

Champertor — sliam-per’tor — one  who  moves  suits  and  pursues 
them,  in  order  to  share  in  the  proceeds. 

Champignon — sham-pin’ -yon — a small  kind  of  mushroom. 

Chancre — shang-cur’ — an  ulcer. 

Chandelier— shan’ -de-leer’ — a suspended  branching  apparatus  for 
candles  or  other  lights. 

Chanson — slmung’-song — a song. 

Chaperon — shap’-er-ong — the  hood  of  a knight. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  PRONUNCIATION. 


9 


Charade — sha-rade’ — a riddle  formed  of  the  numerical  division 
of  words. 

Charlatan — shar’-la-tan — a quack. 

Chasseias — slias’-se-las— a kind  of  grape. 

Chateau— shah-to’ — a country-house. 

Chatoyant — sha-toy’-ant — having  a changeable  lustre. 

Chauinontelle — sho,-mcn-ter — a kind  of  pear. 

Chemise— shem-eez’ — a shift ; in  military  phrase  a wall  that 
lines  a bastion. 

Cheval — shev-val’ — a horse,  in  the  plural. 

Chevaux — shev-vo — horses  ; whence  ehevaux  de-fiize — shev-vo- 
der-freez — a piece  of  timber  or  stone  traversed  with  spikes  ; liter- 
ally frizzled  horses. 

Chevalier — shev-a-leer’ — a horseman,  a knight. 

Chivalry — shiv’-al-ry — the  system  of  knighthood. 

Chivalrous — shiv’-al-rus  ) t,  i • , i 

Chivalric — sliiv-nl’-ric  [ EelatmS  to  clllvalr>  ' 

* * Note  the  difference  of  accent  in  these  two  words. 


Chevisaiice  — shev’-e-zance — enterprise. 

Chevron—  shev’-ron— an  heraldic  figure. 

Chicane — she’-cane — a trick,  a piece  of  cunning. 

Chiminage — sliim’-e-nage — a toll  for  passage  through  a forest. 


We  have  omitted,  in  the.  above  list,  those  words  which  spring 
from  the  roots  contained  in  the  list,  such  as  chicanery,  from  chicane, 
&c.,  because  their  pronunciation  follows  the  same  rule  as  their 
roots.  We  now  give  a complete  list  of  those  words  wherein  the 
sound  of  k is  given  to  the  initial  ch,  some  of  the  derivations  being 
omitted. 


K. 

Chalcedony — kal-sed’-o-ney — a precious  stone  of  the  agate  kind. 
C haloography — kal-cog’  -ra-fey — eng  raving  on  brass. 

Chaldaic — kal-da’-ick — relating  to  Chaldea. 

Chalybeate — ka-iib’ -e-ate — applied  to  springs  of  water  containing 
iron. 


10 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


Cham — kam — a governor,  as  for  instance,  the  Cham  of  Tartary, 
usually,  but  incorrectly,  pronounced  the  Tcham  of  Tartary. 

Chambrelj — kam’-brell — the  hind  leg  of  a horse,  a drover's  stick 

Chamlet— kam’-let — a woolen  stuff. 

Chameleon — ka-me’-le-on — a species  of  lizard. 

Chamomile — kam’-o-inile — a medical  plant. 

Chaos — ka’-oss — the  confused  elements  which  preceded  creation. 

Character — kar’-ac-ter — mark,  stamp,  quality. 

Charta — kar’-ta — a charter,  a paper,  or  parchment. 

The  word  chart,  a map,  is  properly  pronounced  tchart,  but 
charta,  a document,  karta  ; hence  it  is  correct  to  say  mag’-na  kar’- 
ta,  the  ordinary  usage,  mag’-na  tchar’-ta,  being  wrong. 

Chasm — kasm — a breach,  a cleft,  a vacuity. 

Ghelonian — ke-lo’-ne-an — pertaining  to  the  tortoise. 

Chely — ke’-ley — the  claw  of  a shell  fish. 

Chemistry — kem’-is-trey — the  science  of  which  examines  the 
constitution  and  properties  of  bodies. 

Chersonese — ker-so-neee — a peninsula.  The  term  was  applied 
by  the  Greeks  to  the  peninsula  between  the  Hellespont  and  the 
Gulf  of  Melas;  now  applied  to  the  Crimea,  which  was  known  to 
the  Greeks  as  the  Taurica  Chersonesus.  The  pronunciation  of  the 
word  tcher'-so-neez  is  just  now  very  common,  but  incorrect. 

Chiaro-osCuro — ke-ar’-o-os-coo’-ro — lights  and  shades  in  painting. 

***  This  is  another  word  just  now  very  much  abused. 

Chiliad — kil-e-ad — a thousand. 

Chilifactive — kil’-e-fac’-tive — making  chyle. 

Chimera — ke-mere’-a — an  idle  fancy. 

Chiragra — ki-ra’-gra — gout  in  the  hand. 

Chirology — ki-rol’-o-gy — the  art  of  conversing  with  the  hands. 

Chirography — ki-rog’-ro-phy — hand-writing. 

Chiromancy — ki’-ro- man ’ey— divination  by  the  lines  of  the  hand. 

Chiropodist — ki-rop’-o-dist — a corn-cutter* 

Chirurgeon— ki-rur’-ge-on — an  operator  by  the  hand,  a surgeon. 

Chlamys — kiam’-iss — a cloak,  a tunic. 

Chlorous-^klore’ -us— green,  or  pertaining  to  chlorine. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  PRONUNCIATION. 


11 


Chloris — klo’-ris — the  greenfinch. 

Chlorine — klo’-rin  (not,  as  usually  pronounced,  klo’  -rine) — a pecu- 
2iar  gas.. 

Chlorophyl — klo’ro-phil — the  green  colouring  matter  of  plants. 

Chlorosis — klo’ro’-sis — the  green  sickness. 

Choir — kwire— a band  of  singers,  part  of  a church  where  the 
choral  service  is  performed. 

Choler — kol’-er — the  bile,  irritability. 

Choliambic — ko-le-am’-bic — an  ill-wrote  scazon  on  iambic. 

Chondrodite — kon’-dro-dite — a mineral. 

Choral — kore’-al — belonging  to  a chorus. 

Choragus — ko-ra’-gus— the  leader  of  a chorus. 

Chord — kawd — the  string  of  a musical  instrument,  an  accord  or 
harmony. 

Choreus — ko-re’-us — a poetic  foot,  otherwise  called  a trochee. 

Chorion — kore’-e-on — the  membrane  which  invests  the  foetus. 

Chorography — ko-rog’-ra-phy — description  of  places. 

Chorepiscopal — k o’ -re-pis’ co-pal — pertaining  to  a local  bishop. 

Chrism — krism — a consecrated  oil  or  unguent. 

Chrismatory — kris’-ma-tor-y — a vessel  used  for  chrism. 

Christ — krist — the  Messiah. 

Christendom — kris’-ten-dom — the  body  of  Christians. 

Chromatic — khro-mat’-ic — relating  to  colours. 

C hronical— iron^e-kl  j lonS  Oration,  periodical. 

Chronography — kro-nog’-ra-phy — description  of  past  time. 

Chrysalis — kris’-a-lis — the  form  which  insects  take  in  passing 
from  the  worm  to  the  fly. 

Chyle—  kile—  a milky  material  formed  from  the  food  in  the 
stomach  by  digestion. 

Chyme — kime — a further  modification  of  food  by  digestion. 

In  all  other  words  commencing  with  ch  the  pronunciation  is  tch, 
as  chance,  change,  &c.,  &c. 

Ck,  as  a termination,  will  always  indicate  its  proper  sound ; but 
ch  frequently  has  the  same  sound,  or  c alone  has  oftentimes  the 
sound  of  k,  and  in  places  where  the  unlearned  reader  would  be 


£2 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


puzzled  to  determine  for  himself.  For  instance,  cachexy,  an  evil 
habit,  is  pronounced  ka-keck’-sey,  and  its  derivatives,  cachectic 
and  cachectical,  ka-kek’-tic  and  ka  kek’-te-cal. 

01  ACCENT. 

One  half  the  blunders  in  pronunciation  arise  from  the  difficulty  of 
placing  the  accent  correctly  in  words  of  many  syllables.  In  dissyl- 
lables the  ordinary  rule  in  English  is  to  place  the  accent  on  the 
penultimate,  that  is,  the  last  syllable  but  one ; but  in  words  of  many 
syllables  the  accent  usually  fails  on  the  antepenultimate,  or  the  last 
last  syllable  but  two.  But  there  is  a tendency  in  English  speech  to 
distinguish  nouns  from  verbs,  and  to  place  the  accent  earlier  in 
nouns  than  in  verbs ; for  instance,  the  noun  a tor'ment  we  accent  on 
the  first  syllable,  but  the  verb  to  torment ’ we  accent  on  the  last;  and 
this  rule  holds  good  with  a large  number  of  dissyllables,  which  serve 
both  as  nouns  and  verbs.  Several  words  which  our  forefathers 
accented  on  the  last  syllable,  or  on  the  penultimate,  have  their 
accent  now  pushed  forward  to  the  antepenultimate,  as  advertise , 
which  used  to  be  accented  ad-ver-tise1 , is  now  accented  ad’-vcr-tise. 
Balc’ony  follows  the  same  rule ; and  Mr.  Smart  expresses  his  belief 
that  anchovy  is  not  far  behind,  the  accent  being  now  in  process  of 
removal  from  the  second  to  the  first  syllable.  Among  the  vulgar 
we  often  hear  the  accent  placed  in  a low  seat,  which  gives  a most 
illiterate  tone  to  their  conversation.  Thus  we  hear  admirable  in- 
stead of  admirable,  advertisement  instead  of  advertisement , indica- 
tive instead  of  indie  ativc,  and  so  on.  Where  the  speaker  is  in 
doubt,  it  is  always  a safer  practice  to  throw  the  accent  forward  than 
to  place  it  on  a low  seat,  except  in  the  case  of  verbs,  where  the 
accent  tends  towards  the  penultimate.  And  where  custom  does 
not  interpose  to  render  the  practice  barbarous,  it  is  better  in  verbs 
to  place  the  accent  on  the  penultimate,  or  last  syllable  but  one, 
than  on  the  syllable  preceding  it,  as  contem  plate,  conjis  cate,  com- 
pensate, demon str ate,  &c.,  &c.  Prepositions  and  adjectives  both 
tend  to  accentuation  in  a low  seat.  But  there  is  a rale  which  ere- 


ON  ACCENT. 


13 


ates  some  exceptions  ; and  it  is  that  where  a word  is  a derivative, 
or  derived  from  another,  it  retains,  if  it  be  possible,  the  accent  of 
the  parent  wrord.  For  instance,  return’  and  retort’,  as  nouns,  are 
accented  on  the  second  syllable  instead  of  the  first ; whereas  the 
adjective  imp’ish  is  accented  on  the  first  instead  of  the  second.  A 
little  consideration,  however,  renders  this  matter  very  simple.  If 
we  look  for  the  roots  of  these  words,  we  find  that  the  first  two 
return ’ and  retort'  both  spring  from  verbs,  and  hence  the  accent  is 
the  same  as  the  parent  words ; whilst  imp'isli , as  an  adjective , should 
have  the  accent  in  a low  seat,  were  it  not  that  it  springs  from  imp, 
a noun,  and  preserves  the  accent  of  its  original,  and  in  the  former 
instance. 

The  exceptions  to  the  rule  here  given  are  not  numerous,  but  there 
are  a few  requiring  special  mention,  because,  as  they  refer  to  words 
in  very  frequent  use,  errors  in  accent  are  more  likely  to  creep  in  to 
the  injury  of  the  word,  and  creep  out  again  to  the  injury  of  the 
speaker.  These  words  are,  contrary,  chastisement,  blasphemous, 
penurious.  The  first  springs  from  contra,  a Latin  preposition,  and 
follows  the  accent  of  its  parent  contrary.  To  hear  a person  say 
contra'  ry  would  mark  him  at  once  as  unlettered  in  the  extreme. 
But  there  is  a word  from  the  same  root  which  few,  even  of  the  skil- 
ful in  accent,  would  utter  correctly — it  is  the  word  contranitcncy. 
Ninety-nine  of  every  hundred  persons,  of  moderate  education, 
would  make  contrail' itency  of  it,  but  it  should  be  contranitcncy, 
throwing"  the  accent  in  a secondary  manner  on  the  first  syllable,  and 
in  a primary  manner  on  the  third.  But  chastisement,  blasphemous, 
and  penurious  do  not  follow  the  rule  of  chast’ise,  blasphe’me,  and 
pen'ury ; they  shift  it  thus,  elms' tisement,  blas'pkemous,  and  penu 
rious. 

In  words  of  a compound  character,  having  syllables  which  aro 
common  to  many  other  words,  the  accent  is  never  placed  on  such 
common  syllables,  but  on  the  preceding  distinguishing  syllables. 
Thus,  lily,  ity,  tion , case  (in  bookcase,  &c.),  ly,  al,  &c.,  have  no 
accent ; and  in  like  manner  most  common  prefixes  are  without 
accent,  such  as  ad,  be,  con,  &c.,  &c. 

A double  accent  occurs  in  words  which  are  too  long  to  be  altered 


14 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


with  a single  one.  The  seat  of  the  second  accent  is  never  a matter 
of  difficulty  when  once  the  primary  has  been  determined  ; and  in- 
deed in  most  Dictionaries  the  primary  only  is  used.  Where  there 
are  two  accents  it  is  important  to  know  which  is  the  chief;  that  de- 
termined, the  other  will  indicate  itself,  as  in  accenting  allegorize. 
If  we  follow  the  vulgar  tendency  of  placing  th*  accent  at  a low 
seat,  we  shall  say  allego’rise,  but  a more  refined  method  places  one 
chief  accent  on  the  first  syllable,  and  another  secondary  one  on  the 
last — al  legorise \ This  same  rule  is  seen  in  words  of  similar  struc- 
ture as  to  syllables,  as  caricature1 , animadvert.  If  the  secondary 
accent  be  neglected,  the  effect  is  to  destroy  all  harmony  of  utter- 
ance ; and  the  person  who  should  neglect  the  secondary  accent 
would  never  read  poetry  in  a way  to  please,  or  indeed,  literature 
of  any  kind. 

The  principal  accent  inclines  to  the  earlier  syllable  in  words  end- 
ing in  er  or  or;  as  for  instance,  counter-jumper,  while  it  always 
falls  on  the  latter  syllable  in  words  ending  in  tion,  in  accordance 
with  the  rule  which  places  the  accent  on  the  penultimate  in  w^ords 
which  have  a common  termination.  For  exampie,  benefaction, 
effemination , dispensation ; and  by  the  same  rule  as  to  the  com- 
mon termination,  incompatibility,  efficacious,  excitability,  &c., 

This  rule,  as  to  words  having  a common  termination,  holds  good 
in  words  derived  from  the  Greek  and  Latin,  though  words  of  Greek 
and  Latin  origin  do  not,  as  a rule,  adapt  themselves  to  the  genius 
of  our  language.  Thus  we  say,  geology,  theoc'racy,  orthography , 
cacopllony,  logom'achy , geog'ony,  and  geognostic,  because  the 
termination  logy,  cracy,  graphy,  strophe,  gnosy,  machy,  metry, 
phony,  trophy,  &c.,  are  common  to  many  such  words,  and  hence,  giv- 
ing no  distinct  meaning,  have  no  accents.  But,  unfortunately,  when 
we  deal  with  words  of  classical  origin,  we  find  that  our  usage  does 
not  compel  them,  to  fall  in  with  'the  rules  of  English ; while  at 
the  same  time,  they  have  been  allowed  to  escape' from  their  origi- 
nal accent  in  the  Greek.  Unquestionably  the  best  wTay  to  get  out 
of  this  difficulty  is  to  follow  the  rules  of  our  own  language  when- 
ever we  dare,  even  to  the  annoyance  of  the  classic  ear.  There  are 
some  words,  however,  which  insist  on  their  own  peculiarities  of 


ON  ACCENT. 


15 


accent  Thus  European,  Antipodean,  Atlantean,  and  other  words 
ending  in  can , should,  according  to  the  rules  of  English,  be  accented 
on  the  antepenultimate,  as  European , Antipo'dean , Atlantcan ; 
whereas  the  custom  of  scholars  has  long  been  to  evade  the  rules  of 
our  own  language,  and  accent  them  Europe’an,  Antipodean,  Atlan- 
te’an,  and  so  on,  except  with  Herculean,  which,  having  been  Latin- 
ised, is  allowed  to  follow  our  own  rule,  and  hence  it  is  correct  to 
say  Hercu’lean. 

The  reader  may  make  use  of  these  rules  to  great  advantage,  when 
meeting  with  words  of  which  he  has  not  previous  acquaintance. 
Thus  any  word  ending  in  tion  will,  without  exception,  be  accented 
on  the  penultimate ; and  if  any  of  the  vowels,  a,  e,  o , or  u , come 
before  tion,  then  the  vowels  will  be  sounded  long  with  the  accents ; 
but  if  i come  before  tion,  then  the  t of  the  tion  leaves  its  place,  and 
joins  i with  an  accent,  and  forms  with  it  the  accented  penultimate. 
Thus  of  a,  e,  o,  u , affectation  has  a long  sound  on  the  accented  a, 
and  locomotion  a long  sound  on  the  accented  vowel  o ; but  of  the 
junction  of  i with  t we  may  quote  as  an  instance  recognition, 
wherein  the  t of  the  tion  forms  a part  of  the  third  syllable,  and  w*e 
say  recognish-un.  If  words  in  tion  consist  of  more  than  three  syl- 
lables, reckoning  tion  as  one,  they  should  have  a secondary  accent. 

With  regard  to  ean  there  is  nothing  but  classical  custom  to  pre- 
vent a similar  rule  of  accent.  Our  own  language  demands  that 
they  should  be  accented  on  the  antepenultimate  (or  penultimate,  as 
in  tion,  if  we  consider  lean,  or  rean  as  but  one  syllable),  as  ceru’- 
lean,  marmo’rean,  hyperbo’rean,  Cerbe’rean,  Hercu’lean,  &c. : and 
we  may  hope  that  some  day  the  rule  will  prevail  in  European,  Anti- 
podean, and  others,  which  have  taken  law  unto  themselves. 

Words  ending  in  ic  may  be  regarded  as  properly  accented  on  the 
syllable  preceding  ic,  though  custom  has  decided  otherwise  as  to  a 
few  words,  such  as  arith’metic,  rhet’oric,  politic,  and  others;  the 
exceptions  are,  however,  few,  and  when  the  reader  meets  a word 
in  ic,  the  accent  of  which  he  does  not  know,  he  may  very  safely 
place  it  on  the  syllable  preceding  ic,  as  in  pathet’ic,  Satan’ic,  and 
harmon’ic. 

Where  the  concluding  syllables  of  a word  flow  so  liquidly  into 


JG 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


each  other,  that  we  are  in  a difficulty  to  decide  to  which  syllable  a 
consonant  between  two  vowels  shall  be  assigned,  it  is  a safe  rule  to 
place  the  consonant  at  the  commencement  of  the  latter  syllable,  and 
hence  make  the  vowel  long,  unless  that  vowel  be  i.  For  instance 
a reader  may  be  in  doubt  how  to  pronounce  such  a word  as  cassitc 
ria,  whether  to  say  casset-eria  or  cassi  terea;  or  in  Jluostlicic , whe- 
ther to  divide  it  flu-o-sil-iss-ick  or  flu-o-si-liss-ick,  Ac.  The  rule  wo 
give  would  lead  him  to  the  latter  mode,  which  would  be  correct. 
As  there  are  exceptions  to  all  rules,  so  there  are  to  this,  but  they 
occur  in  well-known  words,  and  will  occasion  no  perplexity. 

The  Digraphs. — The  digraphs  ai , ay,  ei,  ea,  ee , ao,  and  au , occur 
frequently  in  words  compounded  from  the  classical  languages,  ae 
and  oe  being  especially  conspicuous  in  Greek  and  Latin  derivatives. 
The  last  two,  se  and  ce,  we  shall  consider  presently ; the  sound  of 
all  the  former,  with  very  few  exceptions,  is  the  same  as  the  alpha- 
betical sound  of  a.  The  most  common  exception  is  one  which,  as 
it  mostly  occurs  in  words  of  French  origin,  is  usually  sounded  like 
o,  as  in  Chaumontelle  (a  sort  of  pear),  the  pronunciation  is  Sho- 
mon-tel.  The  digraphs  ee,  ea,  ei,  ce,  ce,  eo,  ey,  ay,  are  more  in  use 
than  those  just  referred  to ; and  all  these  latter  have  the  alphabeti- 
cal sound  of  e,  as  Phoenix,  fee-nix,  Caesar,  Cee-sar,  cedile,  edile. 
Many  very  hard  words  occur  with  these  compound  vowels ; and 
the  reader,  bearing  in  mind  the  rules  of  accent,  and  the  rule  now 
given  for  the  digraph,  will  find  no  difficulty  in  accomplishing  a cor- 
rect pronunciation. 

The  digraphs  ic,  ye,  ei,  ui,  uy,  ai,  ay,  ey,  eye,  and  oi,  take  the 
alphabetical  sound  of  the  vowel  i.  The  first  of  these,  ei,  is  fre- 
quently sounded  e,  as  in  neither  and  either,  but  the  correct  sound 
of  the  digraph  in  these  words  is  ni-ther,  i-ther ; so  also,  in  height , 
heigh-lio,  sleight,  &c.,  the  pronunciation  should  be  kite  (vulgarly 
pronounced  hithth),  high-ho,  and  slit  a.  Oi  is  frequently  incorrectly 
sounded  like  oy  in  boy.  Even  in  the  word  choir  the  correct  sound 
is  quire.  The  digraph  io  occurs  very  frequently  as  a termination, 
as  in  ions.  In  this  case  the  i usually  separates  itself  from  o,  and 
takes  the  sound  of  e,  but  very  much  shortened,  as  in  litigious,  pro 


ON  ACCENT. 


17 


nonneed  le-tig-e-us.  A very  slight  sound  of  c after  the  second  syl- 
lable always  adds  a grace  to  the  pronunciation  of  such  words, 
though  care  must  be  exercised  in  introducing  it,  and  it  must  never 
be  heard  in  the  ordinary  termination,  tion.  The  slight  e sound  may 
be  introduced  in  such  words  as  elusinian,  el-u-sin-e-an ; excrementi- 
tious,  ecks-cre-men-tish-e-us,  and  others  where  the  sound  its  would 
extinguish  the  i preceding  ous  ; didynamian , di’-de-na’-me-an ; but 
in  elocution,  embarcation,  and  all  words  having  the  regular  termin- 
ation, tion,  the  e sound  would  appear  pedantic  and  affected. 

The  use  of  o as  a digraph  oo , is  not  common  in  our  language,  but 
it  sometimes  has  the  short  sound  of  u , and  in  such  cases  it  is  impor- 
tant for  the  speaker  to  be  correct.  Rome , dome , and  gold  used  to 
be  pronounced  as  if  written  room , doom,  and  goold,  but  they  are  now 
pronounced  with  the  legitimate  sound  of  o,  Rome,  &c.  The  oo 
sound  of  o is,  however,  preserved  in  a few  words,  and  will  continue 
to  be,  as  whom  is  pronounced  as  if  written  hoom.  The  use  of  o as 
a short  u is  an  important  matter  as  to  correct  pronunciation ; and 
Crumwell  for  Cromwell,  cumrade  for  comrade,  cumpany  for  com- 
pany, give  us  the  sound  of  o in  come  or  some ; and  while  such  a 
pronunciation  prevails  in  good  society,  it  must  be  followed  by  those 
who  desire  to  “ flow  with  the  stream.7’ 

The  compounds  oa , oe,  ou , ow,  eo , ew , eau,  au,  oo,  have  o for  their 
regular  sound.  The  oa  is  used  in  boat,  as  if  the  word  were  written 
bote,  the  oe  in  doe  and  foe ; but  when  oe,  the  diphthong,  occurs  in 
words  of  classic  origin,  it  must  be  sounded  e.  The  compound  eau 
occurs  frequently  in  words  of  French  origin,  and  always  has  the 
sound  of  o.  We  do  now  and  then  hear  of  Bu-mont,  bu-ru,  bu-mond, 
and  bu-i-deal  for  Beaumont,  bureau,  beau-monde,  and  beau-ideal, 
all  of  which  should  be  pronounced  bo-inont,  buro,  bo-mond,  and  bo- 
i-deal.  Beauty  and  its  derivatives  afford  the  only  example  of  the 
sound  of  u in  eau  which  the  English  language  affords. 

Eti  and  ew  sometimes-  afford  exceptions  to  the  sound  of  c In 
the  word  sewer,  a drain,  the  sound  should  be  soor  not  su-er ; and  in 
sewer,  one  who  sews,  the  sound  should  be  so’-cr.  The  first  is  fre- 
quently pronounced  eKor*,  and  the  second,  su-er , but  both  the  latter 
nltfdes  are  wrong. 

2 


18 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EAST. 


The  compounds  ue,  ui,  cu , ew,  and  now  and  then  iew,  ieu , and  co 
have  the  alphabetical  sound  of  u.  The  first  four  are  used  as  u 
almost  without  exception,  but  the  remaining  three  are  very  irregu- 
lar. Frequently  ue  is  useless  in  a word,  as  in  pedagogue , pronoun- 
ced ped-a-gog,  monopolylogue — mon’-o-pol’ -e-log — a performance  in 
which  one  person  sustains  the  dialogue  of  many. 

Extinction  of  Vowel  Sounds.  Where  custom  sanctions  a pro- 
nunciation it  is  affectation  only  which  can  attempt  to  set  custom 
at  defiance.  There  are  some,  however,  who  persevere  in  giving 
the  extinguished  vowel — when  it  occurs  before  d,  1,  n,  &c.,  its  full 
syllabic  sound.  Such  persons  may  be  assured  that,  though  a few 
elderly  ladies  indulge  in  prai-sed,  smoo-thed,  fa-bled,  and  baff-l-ed 
all  modernised  tongues  drop  the  vowel  in  such  last  syllables,  and 
say  prais’d,  smooth’d,  fabl’d,  baffl’d,  &c.  Hearing  a parent  teach 
a child  to  read  in  this  style  the  other  day,  reminded  us  that  the 
old  custom  of  sounding  ed  was  not  yet  extinct,  and  therefore  the 
correction  is  worth  the  space  it  occupies  here.  How  far  this  con- 
formity (namely,  to  custom)  is  desirable  to  the  public  reading  of 
the  Scriptures,  or  of  set  forms  of  prayer,  couched  in  language  ven- 
erable from  its  antiquity,  is  another  question ; though  even  here,  it 
is  presumed,  few  judicious  readers  would  go  so  far  as  to  say  buri-ed , 
stray-ed,  justiji-ed , set-tl-ed , and  assem-bled.  There  are,  however,  a 
few  words  in  whieh  the  sound  of  ed  is  preserved  distinctly,  such  as 
nak-ed,  wick-ed,  rag-ged , wretcli-ed ; but  an  observer  perceives,  in  an 
instant,  that  were  the  e in  ed  extinguished  in  such  words  the  words 
themselves  would  be  scarcely  utterable,  or  at  least  most  unmusical. 

The  short  sounds  of  u puzzle  many,  and  in  this  matter  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  reduce  the  sound  to  rule.  Put,  to  put,  sounded  in  the  same 
way  as  butt  is  vulgar  *,  it  is  properly  sounded  poot,  similarly  to  foot. 
Most  other  words  beginning  with  ul,  as  bullace,  bulwark,  Fulham, 
&c.,  have  the  oo  gound  of  u ; but  wTords  of  classic  origin  must  have 
the  sound  of  short  u,  as  in  mutton , such  as  fulsome  and  fulminate, 
which  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  pronouuce  foolsomc  and  foolminatc. 

The  au  has  its  peculiarities ; with  the  uninitiated  it  usually  has 
too  broad  a sound,  and  we  advise  the  reader,  if  he  has  been  in  the 


ON  ACCENT. 


19 


habit  of  sounding  this  compound  broadly,  like  aw,  to  shorten  it 
henceforth,  and  approach  to  the  sound  of  a in  all , papa,  k c.  Thus, 
aunt,  flaunt,  vaunt,  laundress,  &c.  &c.,  should  not  be  pronounced  as 
if  written,  awnt,  flawnt,  vawr.t,  and  lawndress,  but  as  if  written 
% ahnt,  flarnt,  &c.,  the  a being  regarded  as  the  vowel  of  chief  sound 

the  u showing  that  that  sound  should  be  broad,  but  not  so  broad  as 
to  be  vulgar. 

And  here  let  me  add  a note  as  to  those  abbreviated  forms  of 
speech  which  we  use  every  day,  and  find  so  economical  in  colloquial 
» discourse.  I call  them  economical,  because,  in  their  abridged  form, 

they  require  less  breath,  and  are  more  readily  uttered  by  the  tongue. 
These  are  slid* nt,  can't,  wouldn’ t,  shouldn't,  didn't , havn't,  and  a few 
others.  These  are,  of  course,  illegitimate  forms  of  shall  not,  cannot , 
&c.,  but  custom  so  sanctions  them,  that  it  is  no  longer  objectionable 
to  use  them.  X should  scarcely  have  referred  to  these  abbreviated 
compounds  had  I not  observed  that  many  persons,  who  desire  to 
speak  accurately,  are  led  away  by  the  supposition  that  the  first  step 
to  an  accurate  pronunciation  is  to  discard  these  compounds  of  uni-  ! 
versal  utility,  and  to  give  each  its  full  written  form.  This  is  a mis- 
take, and,  unfortunately  for  those  who  adopt  the  full  pronunciation, 
they  seldom  get  beyond  it,  and  if  any  word  of  three  or  four  syllables 
encounters  them,  they  usually  break  down,  but  rise  up  again,  and 
go  on  with  did  not,  shall  not,  &.C.,  as  bravely  as  before.  What 
fashionable  society  sanctions  may  be  regarded  as  correct,  for  it  is 
the  aim  of  fashion  to  attain  to  accuracy,  but  not  to  the  sacrifice  of 
ease ; and  all  abbreviated  negative  words,  with  the  exception  of 
ain't  for  am  not,  are  used  by  persons  who  can  be  charged  with 
neither  want  of  wisdom  or  want  of  polish.  Ain't  is  abominable, 
and  must  linger  among  laundresses  and  charwomen  to  the  end  ot 
time ; no  well-taught  tongue  will  adopt  the  ugly  bantling. 

The  combinations  are,  ere  and  ire,  are  all  liable  to  be  pronounced 
like  cr,  as  in  satire,  which  vulgarly  gets  pronounced  sa-tire,  but,  cor- 
rectly, sat-er. 

Ore,  ure  and  oor,  are  usually  sounded  like  or  or  oor.  In  door  the 
oo  has  the  sound  of  or,  and  in  moor  the  oo  is  frequently  used  in  the 
game  manner.  But  the  latter  mode  is  vulgar ; moor  should  be  pro 


i 


20 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


nounced  moo-er  as  nearly  as  possible.  Words  having  the  combina- 
tions ore , oor  and  urc  are  however,  too  well  understood  k require 
further  notice  here. 

The  most  important  of  this  class  of  compounds  is  oir,  which  is 
found  in  no  word  purely  English,  except  in  choir,  already  treated 
of.  As  it  occurs  usually  in  words  of  French  origin,  it  has  the  sound 
of  wor  as  nearly  as  possible ; and  though  such  words  get  more  and 
more  anglicised,  and  hence  come  within  the  rules  of  our  own  pro- 
nunciation, we  should  advise  the  reader  not  to  hurry  them  to  such  a 
pronunciation,  but  to  give  them  their  original  sound  of  wor — as  memoir , 
devoir , &c.  pronounced  raem-war,  dev-war,  though  avoirdupoise  has 
been  in  use  so  long  that  we  may  safely  say  av-er-duyoise. 

Some  consonant  compounds  occasion  a good  deal  of  trouble  to  those 
who  have  not  had  the  advantages  of  education.  Such  words  as  apoph- 
thegm and  phthisical,  for  instance,  cause  many  a pause  and  look  of  per- 
plexity, and  yet  such  words,  which,  perhaps,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
hardest  of  hard  words,  are  wonderfully  simple  in  their  pronunciation. 

As,  however,  these  words  have  a terrifying  look,  we  give  the 
reader  a list  of  the  most  difficult  of  them  with  the  pronunciation  of 
each.  The  derivations  are  in  many  cases  omitted,  they  having  the 
same  pronunciation  as  the  roots,  terminations  excepted : — 

Phagedena — fag’-e-de’na — an  ulcer  that  eats  away  the  flesh. 

Phcenomena — fe-nom-en-a  (the  plural  of  phenomenon,  fe-nom’- 
e-non)  remarkable  appearances. 

Phaeton — faJ-e-ton — a kind  of  chaise ; the  name  of  the  youth  who 
drove  the  chariot  of  the  sun. 

Phalangious — fa-lan’-ge-us — pertaining  to  spiders. 

Phalanx — fal-angks — a compact  body  of  men. 

Phantasmagoria — fan-tas-ma-gor’-e-a — an  optical  instrument  used 
for  illusive  amusements. 

Pharmaceutical — far-ma-su-te-kl — relating  to  medicines. 

Phenicopter — fe-ne-kop’-ter — a red-winged  bird  mentioned  by 
classic  poets. 

Phenogamian — fe-no-ga’-me-an— with  visible  organs  of  reproduc- 
tion. 


ON  ACCENT. 


21 


Philanthropy — fi-lan’-thro-py — love  of  mankind. 

Philanthropic— fidan-throp’  -ic — loving  mankind. 

***  These  words  are  inserted  here  to  show  the  shifting  of  accent. 
They  are  words  that  sometimes  occasion  difficulty  as  to  their  cor- 
rect accentuation. 

Phlegmatic — fleg-mat'-ic — dull,  cold,  frigid. 

Phoenix — feJ-nicks — a fabulous  bird. 

Phthisis — ti’cis — consumption.  i 

Pneumatic — nu-mat’-ick — relating  to  the  air. 

Pneumatology — nu’-ma-tor-ogy — the  doctrine  of  spiritual  substan- 
ces. 

Pneumatocele — nu-mat’ -o-ceel — a tumor  filled  with  air. 
Polynomial — pol-e-no’-me-al — consisting  of  many  terms. 
Polyonomous — pol-e-on’-o-mus — many  titled. 

Polyphy Ileus — pol-if  ’-il-us — many  leaved. 

Polysyllabical — pol' e-sil-lab’-e-cl—  pertaining  to  polysyllables. 
Pompholyx— pom’-fo-ltcks — the  spark  which  flies  up  to  the  roof 
in  trying  brass. 

*#*  There  are  no  words  in^r  to  occasion  difficulty. 

Psalm — salmi — a sacred  song. 

Psalmody — saTmo-dey — the  practice  of  singing  psalms. 
Psalmograpliy — sahlm-mog'  ra-fe — the  practice  of  writing  psalms. 
Psammite — sam’-mite— a kind  of  sandstone. 

Pseudo — su’-do— a Greek  prefix  meaning  false. 

Pseudochina — su’-dou-ki-na — the  false  China  root. 

Pseudonymous — su-don’-e-mus— having  a false  signature. 

" Other  uses  of  this  prefix  need  not  be  cited,  since  the  pronun 
ciation  is  so  plain. 

' Psittacious — sit-ta’-shus — of  the  parrot  kind. 

Psoas — so’*as — name  of  a muscle  in  the  loins. 

Psora — sore’ -a— the  itch. 

Psychology — si-kol’-o-ge — the  doctrine  of  the  soul. 

Psychomancy — si  ko-man’-cy — a mode  of  divination. 

Ptarmigan—  tai’-me-gan— a game  bird. 


22 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


Ptisan — tiz’-an  (first  syllable  short  sound  of  vowel) — a decoo 
tion  of  barley  and  other  ingredients. 

Ptolemaic — tol-e-ma’-ick — the  system  of  Ptolemy  (tol’-e-me.) 

Ptyalism — ti’-a-lizm — excess  of  spitting. 

Ptysmagogue — tis’-ma-gog — a medicine  which  discharges  spittle 

It  may  here  be  remarked  that  the  genius  of  our  language  inclines 
always  to  ease  of  utterance.  We  find  it  easier  to  say  ap-o-them  for 
apophthegm,  than  to  preserve  the  sound  of  the  first  ph  and  say  ap- 
of-them.  Hence  the  first  pronunciation  is  correct.  So  also  the  easy 
mode  becomes  the  rule  when  two  consonants,  such  as  ct , cn.  bd,  gn, 
mn , ts,  and,  as  just  illustrated,  pt,  ps,  &c.  occur  together  in  such  a 
way  as  to  give  the  tongue  unusual  difficulty  to  pronounce  them 
properly.  Hence,  the  first  consonant  is  dropped  in  such  words 
as  Czar,  Ctesilas,  Ctesiphon,  bdellium,  gnostic,  and  others  of  similar 
structure,  so  that  we  pronounce  them  as  if  written  Zar,  Tesilas, 
Tesifon,  dellium  and  nostic. 

Wherever  a vowel  assumes  a consonant  sound  it  is  a mark  of 
vulgarity  to  neglect  it,  though  such  neglect  is  indeed  very  common. 
Thus  u in  buoy  has  the  sound  of  to ; and  though  sailors  always  say 
boy , the  correct  pronunciation  is  buoy.  Thus  also  u in  suasive  should 
have  the  w sound,  as  also  in  quibble , cuirass , languid , and  many  oth- 
ers of  similar  structure. 

Proper  Names. — No  rules  can  be  given  for  the  pronunciation  of 
proper  names.  Usage  of  persons  and  places  alone  determines  their 
accuracy ; and  although  we  may  look  foolish  for  pronouncing  the 
name  of  a person  or  place  incorrectly,  yet  accurate  knowledge  is 
only  to  be  gained  of  each  individual  word.  Rules  cannot  be  made 
applicable  so  as  to  guide  the  reader  to  their  pronunciation  without 
the  help  of  a knowledge  of  usage. 

Greek,  Latin,  and  Scripture  Proper  Names. — There  are  no  diffi- 
culties as  to  the  pronunciation  of  these,  since  they  are,  most  of  them, 
so  much  used  in  modern  speech,  as  to  have  long  ago  adapted  them- 
selves to  the  ordinary  rules  of  English  pronunciation.  The  forego- 
ing rules,  therefore,  when  applicable  to  this  class  of  words,  are  U 


ON  ACCENT. 


23 


have  full  force ; and  the  only  particular  which  requires  notice  here 
is  as  to  their  division  into  syllables.  It  is  evident,  that  unless  we 
divide  words  properly  we  must  mar  the  pronunciation.  Thus  Ca-to 
may,  by  improper  division,  be  pronounced  Cat-o ; and  a similar  er- 
ror may  convert  Mi-das  into  Mid-as,  So-lon  into  Sol-on,  and  so  on, 

* to  the  destruction  of  all  that  is  sacred  in  the  mechanism  of  ancient 
literature.  Reference  to  “Webster”  will  give  the  accent  of  all 
classic  names,  and  likewise  the  proper  mode  of  dividing  them  for 
purposes  of  pronunciation.  Usually  the  vowels  have  a full  sound. 
The  accent  generally  falls  late  in  the  wrord,  and  i,  e,  and  o,  espe- 

* cially,  are  used  as  long  vowels. 

The  diphthongs  se  and  oe,  which  are  found  only  in  classic  words, 
are  o have  the  sound  of  e , as  described  in  connection  with  the  di- 
graphs : ai  is  to  be  sounded  as  our  alphabetical  a,  and  ei , unlike 
the  sound  of  it  in  ordinary  English  c,  must  in  classic  words  have 
the  sound  of  i.  • 

C and  g before  c,  i,  y,  ce,  ae,  must  have  their  soft  sounds  like  s 
and  j ; but  ch  in  Greek  words  is  always  sounded  K,  and  in  Scrip- 
ture names  also,  though  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  Ph  has  the 
same  sound  as  in  English,  namely  f ; while  cn,  ct1  gn , raw,  pn,  ps , ])t, 
phth,  tm , and  other  similar  combinations,  when  they  occur  at  the 
commencement  of  words,  drop  their  first  letter  in  the  pronunciation. 

In  all  classic  names  the  seat  of  accent  is  the  important  matter ; 
this,  with  a few  exceptions,  is  always  on  the  last  syllable  but  one, 
or  on  the  last  but  two. 

The  termination  es,  in  Greek  proper  names,  should  have  a dis- 
tinct utterance,  and  by  giving  it  this,  the  accent  will  indicate  itself 
to  both  ear  and  tongue.  For  instance,  we  once  heard  an  incipient 
orator  pronounce  Hippocrates,  Hip’-po-crah’-tes,  and  Socrates,  So- 
kraytes.  Had  the  learned  gentleman  ever  struggled  for  a scholar- 
ship, or  passed  through  the  tortures  of  matriculation,  he  would  have 
known  that  es  was  not  to  be  so  trifled  with,  but  would  have  given  the 
termination  its  importance,  thus — Hip-pook-ra-tees,  Sock-ra-tecs.  I 
should  not  have  called  attention  to  this  subject,  from  a belief  that  the 
veriest  tyro  in  book  knowledge  wnuld  be  well  aware  of  the  necessity 
of  giving  es  its  due  in  classic  proper  names,  had  I not  observed  the 


v> 


24 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


deficiency  even  in  public  speakers.  The  following  instances  will 
suffice  to  place  the  reader  on  his  guard,  and  serve  as  keys  to  the 
pronunciation  of  names  having  this  termination — Pericles , Perry- 
klees;  Socrates , Sock’-ra-tees’ ; Thucydides, Thu-sid’-i-dees’  ; Prax - 
itilcs,  Pracks-it’-i-lees ; Harmonides,  Har-mon’-i-dees’ ; Simonides, 
Sigh-mon’-i-dees’. 

Foreign  Names  of  Persons  and  Places. — Continental  languages 
have  an  almost  uniform  alphabet,  and  the  sounds  of  the  vowels  are 
as  nearly  as  possible  identical  in  each  separate  tongue.  A is  usually 
sounded  like  our  a in  ah,  or  the  second  a in  afar . It  has  however, 
its  sound  of  u as  in  may  in  all  continental  languages,  but  the  sound 
occurs  very  seldom.  E has  the  sound  usually  of  a in  way,  and  some- 
times a shortened  sound  approaching  to  er,  made  by  curling  over 
and  pressing  the  tongue  against  the  lower  palate,  at  the  same  time 
breathing  outward.  The  vowel  i lias  almost  invariably  the  sound  of 
e ; o maintains  its  English  sound  of  o as  in  so,  but  has  occasionally 
the  sound  of  oo ; in  Italian  it  has  the  distinct  sounds  of  o as  in  so, 
and  aw  in  saw.  The  u in  French  has  a delicate  sound,  the  lips  be- 
ing compressed : but  in  Italian  it  invariably  bears  the  full  sound  of 
oo , as  Luisa,  pronounced  Loo-e-zah. 

With  respect  to  the  consonants,  their  sound  (generally  speaking) 
is  the  same  m all  European  languages,  and  little  hazard  will  be  in- 
curred by  adhering  in  tins  respect  to  English  custom.  Among  the 
exceptions  is  th,  which  on  the  Continent  is  usually  sounded  as  t 
simply.  Thus  the  French  name  Bert  ho  l let  is  sounded  Bare’-i  ol-lay\ 
X is  often  sounded  as  s or  ce,  as  in  Aix  la-chapelle,  Ace’-la-sha-pel. 
The  French  nasal  sound  of  n it  is  sometimes  proper  to  retain,  as  in 
Nantes,  Nongt;  the  Simplon,  Sang’-plong;  and  sometimes  to 
sink  the  nasal  sound,  as  in  Lyons,  Orleans,  which  two  words,  and 
many  others,  easily  receive  a purely  English  pronunciation.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  this  point  is  very  doubtful,  as  in  the  word 
Ghent,  which  some  call  Gongt,  and  others  Ghent.  Similar  re- 
marks apply  to  Caen  (the  place  in  Normandy),  which  some  call 
Gang,  and  others  Cn-en.  The  last  syllable  in  Etb&uf  has  its  diph- 
thong sounded  with  a medium  between  the  English  u in  buff  and 


ON  ACCENT. 


25 


the  oo  in  roof.  If  the  reader  will  curl  up  the  tongue  against  the 
lower  palate,  and  the  inner  side  of  the  lower  front  teeth,  and  breathe 
outward,  this  sound  may  easily  be  produced.  “ In  La  Saone,  the 
ao  have  the  sound  of  long  o,  and  so  have  the  cauz  in  Bordeaux  > 
while  in  Bruxelles  the  x is  sounded  as  s. 

“ In  Boulogne  the  concluding  sounds  are  oin  with  a sound  as  of  y 
consonant  added.  With  regard  to  Italian,  the  c always  has  the 
sound  of  tch  before  e and  i ; and  of  k before  a,  o,  u,  or  any  other 
letter.  G is  soft  before  e and  i,  and  hard  before  all  other  letters, 
except  l or  ?«.  J always  has  the  sound  of  ii  or  y , Ajaccio  is  pro- 
nounced A-yat-chc-o.  G before  1 or  n takes  the  sound  of  y after  it, 
as  in  Bentivoglio,  Benti-vo-le-yo.  In  Spanish,  the  y is  sounded  as  in 
Italian. 

Double  consonants  in  Italian  must  always  be  both  sounded : as 
Maehiavelli,  Ma-kee-a-vel-lee.  When  two  gs  or  two  cs  come  to- 
gether, the  first  always  alters  the  sound  of  the  second : thus  Guic- 
ciardini is  pronounced  Gwitch-tche-ar-de-ne.  In  this  beautiful 
language  there  are  no  diphthongs.  Every  vowel  has  its  own  clear 
sound,  however  many  may  occur  together,  as  calzolaio  is  eal-tzo- 
lah-eo.  The  only  approach  to  a diphthong  which  this  language  con- 
tains is  in  cio  and  gia. 

French  Names. — In  regard  to  French  names,  they  occur  so  often 
in  newspaper  reading,  they  mingle  so  much  in  our  every-day  con- 
versation, that  we  feel  it  a duty  to  offer  a few  plain  instructions  on 
this  head. 

There  are  some  few  sounds  so  common  to  the  French,  that  every 
one  not  acquainted  with  the  language  should  at  least  know  the  cor- 
rect utterance  of  these  few.  The  article  h (the)  is  pronounced  for  ; 
the  article  la  (the)  lah ; and  the  indefinite  articles  im  and  une,  as 
nearly  as  possible  as  they  are  written.  The  plural  les  is  pronounced 
lay  before  a consonant  and  lays  before  a vowel.  Dc  (of)  is  pro- 
nounced der ; and  des , day  before  a consonant  and  days  before  a 
vowel. 

We  have  already  given,  in  the  above  quotations,  a sufficiently 
clear  account  of  the  sound  of  the  French  vowels.  There  are,  how- 


26 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


ever,  a few  combinations  that  require  notice.  The  most  important 
of  these  is  oi,  as  in  moi,  me,  pronounced  mwor ; mouchoir , handker- 
chief, mouschwor ; Vive  Ic  Roi , Veev  ler  Rwor,  Long  live  the  King. 

Another  important  compound  is  au , which  has  the  sound  of  o ; or 
when  united  to  x,  and  followed  by  a vowel,  ose.  The  e having  the 
sound  of  our  a,  and  m and  n having  a nasal  twang,  causes  the  pro- 
nunciation of  some  words  to  be  very  difficult  to  a novice;  for 
instance,  the  M.  Druon  de  L’huys  will  be  pronounced  Mongsenur 
Droo-ong  der  Lwees.  In  addressing  titled  personages  the  French 
say  Monseigneur,  instead  of  the  ordinary  Monsieur;  the  latter  is 
pronounced  short  Mongsur , and  so  much  abbreviated  by  the  tongue 
and  rapidity  of  utterance,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  place  the 
sound  on  paper.  The  nasal  sound  must,  however,  not  pass  through 
the  nose,  but  rest  in  it ; and  the  g must  not  be  fully  uttered. 

In  verbs  of  the  third  person  plural,  the  ent  with  which  they  usu- 
ally terminate  is  always  mute.  The  consonant  r must  be  trilled 
freely  at  all  times. 

In  sounding  u or  cu , the  mouth  should  be  contracted  as  if  for 
whistling,  so  as  to  accomplish  a sound  between  our  u and  oo.  Thus 
Moniteur  is  pronounced,  as  nearly  as  possible,  mon-e-tur,  amateur . 
generally  pronounced  am-a-tew-er,  should  be  am-a-tur.  Where  ai 
occurs  as  a compound  vowel,  i has  the  sound  of  our  a,  with  a minute 
dash  of  i in  it — so  minute,  however,  as  to  be  but  scarcely  perceptible 

Terminal  consonants  are  usually  mute  ; as  for  instance,  St.  A maud 
is  pronounced  Sarntarno — C/tamgamier , Shangarneay — Anglais, 
Aunglay — Canrohert , Kangrobare — Pellissicr,  Pel-leecc-ce-ay,  &c. 
When  the  article  le  or  la  is  abbreviated,  as  it  always  is  before  a 
vowel  or  silent  h,  it  combines  with  the  word  to  which  it  is  attached 
thus  V Empereur — the  emperor — is  pronounced  laungp'rer.  French 
words  have  no  decided  accent ; and  wffiere  the  reader  is  at  a loss, 
he  must  give  the  accent  as  if  it  were  an  English  word. 

Italian  Names. — The  Italian  language  is  the  most  musical  of  any 
in  the  wrorld.  It  is  like  the  song  of  the  nightingale  rendered  into 
syllables.  Hence  it  is  easy  of  utterance  ; there  are  no  harsh  gut- 
turals, such  as  perplex  us  in  German  and  Dutch,  and  which  have 


ON  ACCENT. 


27 


been  humorously  described  as  compounded  of  a cough,  a sneeze,  a 
hiccough,  and  a husk  of  barley  in  the  throat.  The  vowel  a has  two 
sounds,  one  of  which,  at  the  end  of  words,  is  sharp,  and  the  vowel 
i the  full  sound  of  the  English  e.  The  Italian  vowels  are  said  to 
represent  the  seven  notes  in  music,  a,  a,  e,  i,  o,  6,  u,  having  the 
graduations  of  do,  re,  mi,  fa,  mil,  Id,  ci.  The  consonant-compounds 
are  not  difficult ; zz  has  the  sound  of  tz,  and  serves  to  break  the 
syllables,  as  in  Mazzini,  pronounced  Mat-zee-ne  ; Pestalozzi,  Pes’- 
ta-lot-ze.  In  a general  sense,  the  correct  pronunciation  of  Italian 
names  is  very  easy,  the  great  point  being  to  give  the  syllables,  vowels, 
and  double  consonants  their  full  music  and  distinctness. 

German  Names. — The  pronunciation  of  German  is  exceedingly 
simple.  “ The  rule  is,”  says  Mr.  Lebahn,  “ to  speak  it  as  it  is  written, 
and  to  write  as  it  is  spoken.”  The  sounds  are  mostly  the  same  as 
the  French,  though  their  uses  and  combinations  vary.  The  fre- 
quent occurrence  of  the  long  vowel,  as  a,  6,  ii,  is  a striking  peculi- 
arity. When  a occurs  long,  with  the  diersesis,  its  sound  is  the  same 
as  our  a in  hay.  Otherwise  the  sound  of  a in  German  is  broad,  like 
our  a in  cart.  The  6 when  so  made  long,  has  just  the  same  sound 
as  our  u in  purse ; hence  Carl  Theodor  Korner  is  pronounced  Carl 
Ta-o-dor  Kur-ner  ; th,  as  before  explained,  being  equivalent  to  t in 
English.  How  many  thousand  blunders  have  been  made  over 
those  well-known  names,  Schiller,  and  Goethe,  names,  of  all  others, 
most  easily  pronounced  when  the  rule  is  once  made  plain.  We 
have  heard  the  first  converted  into  S killer,  and  the  second  into 
Gurthey,  Go-e-the,  and  Goat.  The  oe  is  equivalent  to  6,  and  hence, 
if  we  proceed  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  Korner,  we  shall  have 
Gur-e-tay,  a very  slight  trill  of  the  r giving  it  the  roughness  with 
which  a German  utters  such  words.  Schiller  is  pronounced  exactly 
as  it  is  written,  and  sch  has  always  a soft  sound,  exactly  the  same 
as  in  English.  Ng  has  the  sound  of  nk,  and  u generally  that  of  oo. 
The  consonant  v is  equivalent  to  f,  and  w to  v,  while  j is  used  pre- 
cisely as  w7e  use  y when  a consonant. 

The  great  terror  o£  il  Americans,  however,  is  the  German  eh. 
This  is  described  by  A r.  Smart  as  being  sounded  in  the  same  way 


28 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


as  the  English  k.  This  is  an  error ; for  although  those  who  cannot 
easily  accomplish  it,  may  fall  back  on  k,  yet  the  German  sound  of 
ch  has  but  little  resemblance  to  k in  English.  Mr.  Lebahn  proposes 
not  to  consider  ch  “ as  a letter  at  all,  but  merely  as  a loud  breath- 
ing.” However  bold  this  assertion  may  appear,  still,  frequent 
trials  have  proved  its  accuracy.  “ For  instance,  if  you  are  to  pro- 
nounce ich,  pronounce  the  i with  the  short  sound  of  ee,  then  push  a 
loud  breath  through  the  upper  teeth,  but  be  not  confounded  by  the 
c or  the  ch,  which  is  not  to  be  considered  at  all,  nor  is  the  breath 
to  be  interrupted,  but  joined  to  the  ee,  and  ich  will  be  correctly 
pronounced.’ ’ We  advise  the  reader  to  practice  this,  as  ch  occurs 
so  frequently  in  German  names  and  in  ordinary  newspaper  reading, 
that  to  slur  it  over,  or  halt  before  the  word,  has  an  illiterate  appear- 
ance, and  greatly  reduces  the  pleasure  of  reading  and  conversation. 
The  vowel  compounds  ie  and  ei  are  sounded  respectively  like  e in 
bee,  and  like  y in  my.  The  second  vowrei  of  the  two  has  its  full 
English  sound,  the  other  remaining  mute.  The  vowel  combina- 
nation  eu  or  aeu  has  the  sound  of  oi  in  oil , and  of  a broad,  has  a 
slight  sound,  but  scarcely  so  much  as  to  give  it  the  character  of  a 
syllable.  An  has  always  the  sound  of  ow. 

Remembering  these  particulars,  and  the  general  rule  that  German 
is  written  as  it  is  pronounced,  the  reader  will  find  no  difficulty  in  pro- 
nouncing German  words  correctly.  For  instance,  the  German  paper, 
Alhgemeine  Zeitung,h  pronounced  Al-ge-mi-ne-zi-toonk ; Voder - 
land,  Far-ter-lant  (d  being  like  English  t) ; Oesterrissche  Corres- 
pondens,  Urs-ter-is-sher  Kor-res-pon-dens.  The  Fremden  Blatt  is 
frequently  pronounced  Fremden  Blah , but  the  correct  mode  is  as  it 
is  spelt,  Frem-den-blat.  Kreuz  Zeitung  must  be  pronounced  Krois 
Zi-toonk. 

The  follow- ing  example  will  show  how  easy  is  the  acquisition  cl 
a correct  pronunciation  of  German , 

JVas  is  das  Deutchse  Vaderland. 

Vos  is  das  doitcher  Fahterlant. 

Wicland,  Velaud;  Mosheim , Mosh-ime;  Gesner , Gues-ner* 
Sckwartzenburg , Schvart-’zen-burg ; Lichtenstein,  Lick’-ten-stine 
Souderhausen  Sou’-der-how-sen;  Stahl,  Stahl;  IJohenlohe , Ho'-hen 


LATIN  PHRASES 


29 


io-he ; jager , yay-ger ; Schlegel , Schlay’-gl;  Kiclmeicr , Keel’-mi- 
er;  Fitchtc , Fick-ta;  Tiec/c,  Teek ; Mo  tier,  Meel’-ler;  Muller , 
Meel’-ler;  Grundtwig , Grunt’ -vig;  Niebuhr,  Neeb’-ur-r;  Gmelin , 
G-may’-lin;  Gottingen,  Geat-tin-gen — the  g in  each  syllable  hard ; 
Jellachic,  Yel-iak-ik  ; Metternich , Met-ter-nick. 

Dutch  Names  come  within  the  scope  of  what  has  been  said  as  to 
German  names,  though  with  a few  exceptions  : uy  has  the  sound 
of  oo,  as  Zuy-der-zee,  pronounced  Zoo-der-zee;  the  consonant  t be- 
comes d in  sound,  and  ch  is  the  same  guttural  aspirate  as  in  the 
German. 

Danish,  Swedish,  and  Norwegian  come  within  the  rules  first  laid 
down. 

Examples. — Sclileiermacher , Schli-er-mah-ker,  the  last  syllable 
following  the  rule  already  given  for  ch ; Oehlenschldger,  Air-len- 
schlay-ger,  the  g in  the  last  syllable  hard  ; Oersted,  Air-sted,  Lan - 
geland,  Lahn-ger-lahnt ; Welt  Chronich,  Yelt-kron-ik ; Schonbein, 
Schean-bine;  Neuc  Beitrage  zu  dem  Geist  in  der  Naiur , Noi-er  Bi- 
trah-ger  zoo  dem  Gist  in  der  Nah-tur  (Contributions  to  the  Soul  in 
Nature). 


PHRASES  USED  IN  CONVERSATION,  PUBLIC 
SPEAKING,  AND  NEWSPAPER  ARTICLES. 

LATIN. 

%*  The  final  e makes  a separate  syllable,  as  Ex-par-tc. 
Ab  initio — from  the  beginning. 

Ad  captandum  vulgus — to  catch  the  rabble. 

Ad  infinitum — to  infinity. 

A fortiori — with  stronger  reason. 

Alias — otherwise.  Alibi — elsewhere. 

A posteriori — from  the  effect  to  the  cause. 

A priori — from  the  cause  to  the  effect. 

Argumentum  ad  hominem — an  argument  to  the  man. 

Audi  ulterum  partem — hear  the  other  side. 

Causus  belli — the  cause  or  reason  of  war. 

Caput  mortuum — the  worthless  remains. 


30 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EASY. 


Cedant  arma  togce — let  arms  yield  to  eloquence. 

Compos  mentis — in  a state  of  sanity. 

Contra  bonos  mores — against  good  morals. 

Cui  bono  ? — to  what  good  ? 

Dc  facto — de  jure — from  the  fact ; from  the  law. 

Diilce  et  decorum  est  pro  p atria  mori — £4  is  sweet  and  glorious  to  4 
die  for  one’s  country. 

Dum  vivimus  vivamus — let  us  live  wh’ie  we  live.  x 

Est  modus  in  rebus — there  is  a medium  in  all  things. 

Ex  cathedra — from  the  chair ; based  on  authority.  * 

Ex  nihilo  nihil  jit — nothing  produces  nothing. 

Ex  officio — by  virtue  of  his  office. 

Ex  parte — on  one  part;  on  one  side  only. 

Fas  est  et  ab  hostc  doceri — it  is  allowable  to  derive  instruction  even 
from  an  enemy. 

Fruges  consumere  nati — men  born  only  to  consume. 

In  Jorma  pauperis — in  the  form  of  a poor  man. 

In  propria  persona — in  person. 

In  re — in  the  matter  of. 

Ipse  dixit — He  himself  said  it ; a dogmatic. 

Locum  tenens — a deputy,  or  substitute. 

Magna  est  veritas,  et  preevalibit — the  truth  is  great,  and  in  the 
end  will  prevail. 

Mirabile  dictu — Wonderful  to  relate. 

Ne  quid  nimis— too  much  of  one  thing  is  good  for  nothing. 

Nisi  Dominus  frustrae — unless  God  help  you  you  fail. 

Onus  probandi — the  weight  of  proof ; the  burden  of  proving. 

O tempora , 0 mores  ! — oh,  the  times  ! oh,  the  manners ! how  aie 
the  times  changed  ! how  are  the  manneis  debased ! 

Otium  cum  dignitate — ease  with  dignity. 

Pari  passu — by  a similar  gradation. 

Passim — everywhere. 

Pocta  nascitur  non  jit — nature,  not  study,  must  form  a poet. 

Prima  facie  — on  the  first  view  or  appearance. 

Primum  mobile  — the  main  spring  ; the  principal  impulse. 

Pro  tempore — Pro  tern. — for  the  time  ; for  the  present. 


4 

* 


FRENCH  PHRASES. 


31 


Reductio  ad  absurdum — a reducing  to  an  absurdity. 

Requiescat  in  pace — may  be  rest  in  peace. 

Rcspicc  jinem — look  to  the  end. 

Sic  passim — so  everywhere. 

Sine  die — to  an  indefinite  time ; to  some  future  day ; indefinitely. 
Suavitur  in  modo , fortiter  in  re — gentle  in  manner,  but  vigorous 
in  deed. 

Svmmum  bonum — the  chief  good. 

Vis  inertia — force  or  property  of  inanimate  matter. 

Vice  versa — the  terms  or  cases  being  reversed. 

Vox  et  prater ea  nihil — A voice  and  nothing  more. 

Voxpopuli,  vox  Dei — the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God. 

FRENCH. 

*#*  The  abbreviated  article  or  preposition  forms  part  of  the  word 
tchich  follows , as  Affair  d'  honneur , pronounced  Af-fare  don-nur. 
Action  proces — Action  at  law. 

Affaire  d ’ honneur — a business  of  honor. 

Affranchir  une  lettre — to  frank  a letter. 

Ada-mode — in  the  fashion. 

Allez  vous  coucher — go  you  to  bed. 

Avancer  de  V argent — to  advance  money. 

Avec  le  temps — in  process  of  time. 

Autant  de  tetes , autant  d ’ opinions — so  man  p men,  so  many  minds. 
Beaux  esprits — men  of  wit. 

Bonne  louche — a delicate  morsel. 

Carte  blanche — unlimited  powers. 

Chacun  d son  gout — every  man  to  his  taste. 

Chef  d 1 oeuvre — a master-piece. 

Comme  il  faut — as  it  should  be. 

Coup -de-main — a sudden  or  bold  enterprise. 

Coup-d'ail — a quick  glance  of  the  eye. 

Coup-de-grdce — a death  blow. 

Coup-de-etat — piece  of  great  policy. 

De  mal  en  pis — from  bad  to  worse. 

De  ffeat  mon  caur — with  all  my  he&rt. 


32 


HARD  WORDS  MADE  EAST. 


En  bon  point — in  good  condition. 

En  passant — in  passing. 

Entre  nous — between  ourselves. 

Faire  V amener — honorable  to  apologise. 

Faire  mon  devoir — to  do  my  duty. 

Fete  champetre — a rural,  open  air  festival. 

Fille  de  chambre — a chambermaid. 

Gardez — take  care. 

Guerre  d mort — war  till  death. 

Guerre  d outrance — war  to  extermination. 

«/’  ai  bonne  cause — I have  a good  cause. 

Je  pcnse—rl  think. 

Je  vous  remercie — I thank  you. 

Jeu  de  mots — a play  on  words ; a pun. 

Jen  d'  esprit— a witticism. 

Le  malheur — bad  fortune. 

Les  savans — the  learned. 

Maintenir  le  droit — maintain  the  right. 

Maitre  d ’ hotel — a house  steward. 

Mots  d’  usage — phrases  in  common  use. 

Ni  plus  ni  moins — neither  more  nor  less. 

On  dit — it  is  said. 

Pardonnezmoi — Pcrmettez  moi — pardon  me — permit  me. 

Prenez  garde — take  care. 

Qui  vive — who  goes  there  ? — on  the  qui  vine — on  the  look  out. 
Ruse  de  guerre — a stratagem. 

Sang  froid — cold  blood,  indifference. 

Sans  doute — without  doubt. 

Soi-disant — self-called,  self-elected. 

Sur  ma  vie — on  my  life. 

Tete  a,  tete — face  to  face. 

Toujours  pret — always  ready. 

Un  bel  esprit — a wit. 

Vis-a-vis — over  against;  opposite. 

Vive  la  bagatelle — Success  to  trifling. 

Vous  avez  bien  rencontre — You  hit  the  mht  nail  on  the  lioiuk 


